Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "Bloomberg Television" channel.

  1. No Rishi, it is Brexit that is causing the harm. The NIP is the solution.
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  2. ;Brexit is about the democratic right of national self-determination by public ballot.' That's bollox. There is no constitutional account for the fact that the Scots and Northern Irish voted to remain, and so it is really the imposition of the will of the English on the rest of the UK in a state with a declining British Demos. 'If the UK wants to leave the EU it is no-one else's business but the UK electorate' Wow! Once again, its the English electorate that is taking the UK out of the EU. The GFA means that it is Ireland's business as a co-guarantor of the GFA...not that you will know anything about that. It is also the business of the rest of the member states who are effected by your chaotic unicorn laden folly. 'If you wish to continue with a decade of stagnant wages and austerity for the poor then the EU is the ideal place to be economically trapped. The argument is really about democracy and not economics.' I would take my chances with the EU. I you wish end stagnant wages in the UK and austerity for the poor, you certainly would not chose Brexit which will result in less bang for your buck. You trust the Tories with your workers rights? Health system? You must be out of your mind...
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  3. Because all EU countries that are affected by Brexit are entitled to EU funding to provide infrastructure to develop their economies. In the case of Ireland, France, Netherlands and Denmark for example, money is available to help redirect exports away from the UK, whether it is in terms of port infrastructure or accessing new markets. That's how the EU works - it supports its members.
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  4. Yes, Brexit is about the English and their insecurities with their place in the world.
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  5.  @gunnargundersen3787  The relationship worsened since the UK voted to leave the EU without a plan! Brexiters claimed they held all the cards and did not need one. That turned out not to be the case. Ireland was not about to fulfill its role as supplicant to the ambitions of insecure English people. Ireland left the UK to go its own way, and will not be the collateral damage of Brexit.
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  6. Ireland has been a net contributor to the EU for a number of years - you don't subsidise Ireland. The UKs contribution can be EASILY replaced: the equivalent of asking 450 million EU citizens to cough up the price of a cup of coffee. How is Ireland a non-productive island? It exports everything it produces...
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  7. Ireland is indeed thinking for itself - and the EU has been its mouthpiece....
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  8. Its a failure of British politics.
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  9.  @sirnigeloffarage9255  No, we will wait until it suits us - in the meantime, keep forking out the cash for the place. Good lad.
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  10. @Ian Norris Yes, it wins. Like it came top of the league in Coronavirus deaths and won the competition for the steepest economic decline in Europe this year. Its just win, win, win....
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  11. The EU stands behind Ireland because it is a member of the EU and the UK is leaving it. The UK is very disappointed that the EU does not hold Ireland in the same contempt Brexit Britain holds Ireland...a UK miscalculation.
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  12.  @Buckets1000  Whatever way you stack it, that is indeed the result you get. The UK is is done.
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  13. @ Kieran Greene If Ireland was to be united you wouldn't want to approach it all triumphalist and strategy-free as the UK has approached Brexit. There would have be a longish run-in to a timetabled, negotiated unification, and the Republic would have to sacrifice some sacred cows along the way for this new Ireland (new flag, anthem?). Demographics suggest it will happen over the next two or three decades, one way or the other. What Ireland does not need is this Brexit nonsense breaking up the UK in some way and forcing the situation before anyone wants it, that's for sure.
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  14. Nobody wants to rule the UK, but the EU will not agree UK demands that undermine the EU. It is not the EUs fault that the UK never considered this reality or failed to read the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK has become a ridiculous, mickey mouse country.
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  15. The UK. The trade surplus is thanks to EU trade deals. Do you have any trade negotiators yet?
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  16. @ coolsdon Its in all the newspapers: https://www.yahoo.com/news/brexit-tory-mp-john-redwood-170008455.html
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  17. That man's pants is SO on fire.
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  18.  @oldseadog3386  No. Ireland paid into the EU to fund various schemes such as this. Ireland is getting its own money back.
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  19. Sorry Ruairi, the Irish people are too sophisticated for the simplistic raison d'ê·tre of the hard right.
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  20. That's interesting. The UK signs the Withdrawal Agreement without reading it, and then admits to the intention of breaking international law in order to get around what it did not read, and yet the EU 'blundered incredibly'? The UKs other incredible blunder was the assumption that Ireland would just trot out of the EU behind it, as your comment alludes to. If there is a hard border in Ireland, Brexiters are the only people who will be blaming the EU for it.
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  21. @ coolsdon Indeed. When ideology meets reality, reality wins every time. Get used to it.
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  22. Disagreed with by some, but discredited by none.
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  23.  @oldseadog3386 Right, so you're bullshitting then....
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  24. The reason Ireland is partitioned today is because the UK always supported the minority.
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  25. You gave us 7 billion. It was the smallest contribution to the bail out, but it has the highest interest rate. Ireland's debt to gdp ratio was 68.9% at the end of 2018. UKs debt to gdp ratio was 84.7% at the end of 2018. It is difficult to see by what standard you think the UK is trying to help Ireland. As 92% of Irish people support EU membership it is delusional to think that the UK cares more for the Irish people than its current government. 79% of Irish people are satisfied with Varadkar's stance, while 21% think he's soft on the British government.
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  26.  @sirnigeloffarage9255  No chance later on? Sure the 'precious union' is finished! The only thing keeping it together is a refusal by the English to stand on their own two feet!
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  27. 49 of them rolled over EU deals while one is deal with the EU that you are already regretting. Well, not you personally, of course, but people British people who trade in the EU.
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  28. @ coolsdon 'Without subsidies from Europe your country would be further down the toilet than it already is.' Subsidies support the whole European farming sector. So what? 'Remember it was the British banks who had to step in and bail out your banks ten years ago.' Well that would be remembering a fabrication. It was the UK government who provided about 10% of the bail out, though the Britons like yourself have been taking credit for it ever since. 'Record numbers of young Irish people are leaving Ireland for jobs overseas,like I said,you'd think they'd had the decency to stay and support their nation rather than coming to the U.K.' Yes, Irish people emigrate to find work when the economy crashes, its part of our culture now. In the UK, when the economy crashes people seem to stay at home and moan about the EU. The Irish economy has recovered and with unemployment at a little over 6%, many are returning with broader minds and new skills. 'Don't worry about the U.K dear,we have the second largest economy in Europe and are about to leave the E.U and save ourselves a bundle by no longer having to prop-up lame economies like Eire...' Ireland has been a net-contributor to the EU for several years now. Your country has a higher debt to GDP ratio than Ireland, a lower GDP per capita and a slower growing economy.
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  29. Well, any residual psychological dependency on the UK will end after Brexit. Ireland is now a net-contributor to the EU. The principle of raising economies of EU members to match stronger members is a core one in the EU, and one of the reasons why countries join it. Only the UK has make a pigs ear of it. The Irish like the EU because it has provided an environment where the Irish can achieve their potential and where Irish cultural identity is distinct, strong an confident.
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  30. Bob Head could be American. Its hard to tell the English from the Americans these days. Gullible, thick, and misinformed.
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  31. Ireland has not had 60% of its trade with the UK for the last 40 years.
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  32. @ Sample Sample 'What happens if UK makes Northern Ireland a tax haven like Singapore post-brexit? All US IT majors would shit their base to UK. Wait and see - don't wake a sleeping giant.' Nothing. The UK will be outside the EU, taking NI with it against the will of its inhabitants. Any company seeking to set up a HQ inside the EU's Customs Union and Single Market will come to south of the border. You cannot set up your EU HQ outside the EU.
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  33. @1 chish 'Here is a little fact for you to consider especially given your rather ignorant comment about 'the English don't care about the Union either with Scotland or Northern Ireland". Really? If we didn't care why do we fund the Barnett Formula that is far more generous to the Irish and Scots than to us English?' The Membership of the Tory party have been polled and place a higher value on obtaining Brexit than on maintaining the Union. Scotland will make it outside of the United Kingdom, as it is likely to be fast-tracked into the EU. If Northern Ireland leaves the UK it will be unified with the Republic and will automatically return to the EU. There are economic models which demonstrate how this would be economically viable.
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  34. 1 chish 'Scotland will never make it on its own. England is its biggest export market and if it joined the EU it would raise additional currency (it would have to take the Euro), fiscal policy issues decided in Frankfurt by the German run ECB and have to create a border that doesn't exist now.' This is standard rhetoric from former imperialists. It was used to keep the Irish within the UK, but they will be commemorating a century of independence from the UK, currently have a higher GDP per ratio than the UK, a seat at the UN and is a member of the EU and is comfortable with its place in the world. Scotland can do the same. The Irish used to depend on the UK for 90% of its exports. Scotland, like Ireland will be able diversify its markets once it joins the EU. Today Ireland exports between 11-13% of its goods to the UK, roughly half of what it exports to the United States. You see, the Scots will not be trying to 'make it on its own' as you claim, but will be seeking to develop economically by pooling its sovereignty with other EU members and availing of the CU and SM. It is the UK that is trying to 'make it on its own'. It will not be smooth sailing. While the Scots are likely to be fast-tracked into the EU because they already meet many of the requirements due to UK membership, their economy will need to readjust. This will result in short-term pain.
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  35. 1 chish 'As for NI joining Eire? It will never happen as the Irish can't afford the cost of the 6 counties (as represented by Barnett and its deficit) and they do not want their sectarian politics either.' One of the issues about Brexit that the Irish and the EU understand but , remarkably, the English don't, is that Brexit raises the issue of Irish unity before true reconciliation has been achieved in NI. With Irish nationalists about to become the majority in NI, many of them who were comfortable within the UK are now angry at the attitude of those on the other island towards them. Their rights as Irish citizens in NI are undermined by Brexit. They look to the Republic as an open minded, liberal democracy while the UK has become a introverted, ignorant and insular place. Its like the roles have been reversed. In the event of a united Ireland, many of the costs of running the place will be removed. EU and Irish government support will be used to develop the NI economy and to get it up to speed with its more dynamic southern counterpart. If the UK was to wean NI off its bloc grant over a period of say 10 or 15 years, then unity is viable. Brexiters would love to be shot of the place, so who knows? Of course sectarianism is a problem. But this is likely to diminish once the UK breaks up, in any case, and of course any future united Ireland must be agreed - the GFA guarantees that.
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  36. 1chish Oh yes, I am indeed on a parallel planet to you, absolutely, I agree. I'm on planet reality, and you are on planet delusion. The government has no coherent policy on Brexit. The Tory Party, the Labour party are both divided, Brexit is not what the Scots voted for - the entire country is divided on Brexit. In NI, the DUP keep the Tories in power on a pro-Brexit agenda, even though NI voted to remain, with an even larger majority supporting the backstop. There IS no policy, there WAS no plan - the Tories are making it up as they go along. Presently, the Tories are electing a new Prime Minister, choosing between a liar, a bluff and a cad or a dunce. The liar, bluffer and cad will win because his bluster is more like how English Tories see themselves. Of course the Tory Party is represented in every region of the UK, but its membership is concentrated in certain regions and come from a particular demographic and economic background. Do you feel that is representative? Probably, because of course Brexiters have no problem with elites as long as they are not European. Nice try, but your point is obfuscation and does not address the electorate within the Tory Party. There was NOTHING subtle about my changing the word support to charity - it was DELIBERATE. English Tories who are prepared to throw the UK under a bus to get the holy grail of Brexit will of course view any 'support' as 'charity'...with those receiving it not 'appreciating' the English and all they do for them. I would advise you to steer clear of my deprivation comment also, as every economist and business leader worth his or her salt is predicting economic decline for the UK post Brexit. Of course, the poorest will suffer most... Such is Brexit.
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  37. Nope, people were exploited and deliberately misinformed.
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  38. I hope the UK can work out a way of keeping the UK's economy stable when it exits. The humiliation of having to return to the EU, cap in hand, seeking a deal is even embarrassing for me, a non-Brit.
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  39. You can't even spell propaganda. And you don't know the difference between propaganda and critical analysis. You have no idea how ridiculous Brexit looks from outside the bubble you are in.
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  40. If you 'want your country back', you need to look closer to home, to your own elites, rather than to Brussells. You need to look at the toffs promoting Brexit...
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  41. Brexiters don't want to be governed by their own country - they want their own way. If Brexiters cared about being 'governed by their own people', or about laws being made by their own courts, why would they call politicians and judges TRAITORS when they didn't get decisions they wanted? Brexit has nothing to do with self-determination. Indeed, the Brexit Britain is currently incapable of self-rule at the present time. The Scots voted to remain. How does Brexit account that? Where is the acknowledgement that 'people think people being governed by their own' is better? Northern Ireland is governed in the context of the GFA, which states that there can be not changes in the NI situation without the CONSENT of the people of NI. 56% voted to remain - where is the account for 'people being governed by their own' in this situation? Consent is what the people of NI voted for in a BINDING referendum based on a PLAN which became an International Treaty bound by international law. Your problems are all closer to home than Brussels, and for that reason there is a real danger that the English are facing a self-inflicted humiliation on the international stage. Get back to me when you have something coherent to say.
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  42.  @oldseadog3386  Yes, but the benefits outweigh the costs unless you live in the UK.
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  43.  @oldseadog3386  Any sensible person would be hoping for a deal.
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  44. The UK cannot dump NI, the GFA prevents it. It protects unionists within the Union.
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  45. @ Spacetrucker U Ireland maintains an independent foreign policy and is unaligned militarily. This because we value our sovereignty and has nothing to do with Marxism. It has its origins in a conservative Ireland, that was anti-communist, anti-British, anti-imperialist and anti-materialism. It is one of the only remaining legacies of that period of the early Irish state that remains intact. Ireland is now a far more outward looking, progressive and open country than the United States and the United Kingdom. It has a stronger democracy and a freer press than both. Despite all this, Ireland has strong relationships with both the UK and the US.
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  46. 'Dublin isn’t big enough to become like London. There is nowhere near enough office space for a start. And that goes for Frankfurt and Amsterdam too' Too late. They've already set up in Dublin (and Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris etc).
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  47.  @sirnigeloffarage9255  Admit the English are a nation, stand on you own two feet as a people and become independent!.
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  48. Ireland needs the EU for trade even more that it needs the UK. Sort out the border issue, and you have Ireland in your corner to a good trade deal.
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  49. The flip side of the coin is that your imports costs are increasing, leading to inflation - due to that weak sterling. If you think its bad now, and people in the UK have started to feel the pinch already, wait until you crash out without a deal. You economy will suffer a shock. Food imports, upon which you depend, will soar in price and without a trade deal with anyone there is nothing you can do about it.
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  50. You seem to be predicting the future with confidence LMAO! Does the UK have a WTO schedule yet? Does the UK have any trade negotiators yet?
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  51. 1chish 'Now this may come as a bit of a surprise Soft Lad but the 160,000 Tory members are not the UK population and they are not the Government or Opposition that define UK policy.' They shouldn't be, but they are at the moment. It is they who will decide on which Brexiter gets to rule the UK with out a popular vote: 0.34% of the UK’s population will get to decide who is the country’s next prime minister. Recent research at Queen Mary University of London shows the Tory membership lives predominantly in the south-west, south-east and east of England. It is also overwhelmingly white (99%), male (70%), with 86% categorised as ABC1s with more education and better-paid jobs, and 72% aged over 45. The UKs future is in the hands of gerontocracy that is barely represented in the north of England or Wales, has a minimal presence in Scotland, has almost no working-class base and is insulated from the deprivation that will follow Brexit. These are the people who are prepared to destroy the UK to get the Holy Grail of Brexit. It matters not, what you think or feel. 'Interesting you don't argue with the huge extra support 'England' gives to 'Scotland', 'Wales' and 'NI'.' I have no interest in what Brexiters consider charity to another part of the UK. The next stage in English nationalism will be to withold this money also, and perhaps it will be the English who will finally dissolve the union, grow a pair and finally become a nation.
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  52. I forget exactly where I heard it - a simple majority will not be accepted in the Republic, it needs to be higher with support from some Unionists. Perhaps this is why Varadkar and the government are putting in such an effort in representing the interests of NI.
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  53. They're not using Article 16.
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  54. There is a hard-line minority who absolutely determined to shoot themselves in the face. The UK will continue to blame the EU even after Brexit. The alternative is to face themselves and their shortcomings, and they are not ready to do that yet.
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  55. Your country can't even make its own passports.
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  56. @GH2618 Many NI nationalists were happy in the UK until Brexit, but they can see the perfidy of Brexit and how it will lead to a hard border even though most NI people voted to remain. This will lead to a border poll sooner rather than later. Brexit has polarized the two communities in NI at a time when its at the cusp of a nationalist majority.
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  57. What 'crap'?
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  58. Democracy is dead because Leave won using misinformation and lies to hijack a democratic process...
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  59. On the contrary. The Irish position it to maintain the status quo, Brexit is changing that. If the UK continues on its course, Brexit will break up the UK which is not what Ireland wants.
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  60.  @oldseadog3386  According to the BBC when Ireland got a term loan from the UK that was also a bail out. So which is it? A 'hand out' or loan?
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  61. You're not negotiating with the EU, you are negotiating with yourselves. You cannot agree what you want, and somehow its the EUs fault!
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  62. How has the EU obstructed the UK when the UK Parliament cannot agree what it wants? The UK agreed to May's deal and your Parliament rejected it. You had a vote and you have consistently obstructed yourselves from leaving. Just as well. Your behavior indicates the UK is not currently fit for self-rule. Its March 30th, 2019 and you are still in the EU. You have lost at every stage in this process of self-humiliation.
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  63.  Dale Gribble  Good lad. At least that's constructive.
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  64. No Stephen, it would not be better for Ireland to leave the EU - it would be economically suicidal. And there are no 'million immigrants' on their way to Ireland. Ireland for fought the freedom to choose its own destiny, and chose to pool its sovereignty with other states to increase the prosperity of its people. While the UK made a pigs-ear of its membership, the Irish did not. Free speech in Ireland ensures there is no need to whisper one's dissent.
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  65. Well, Ireland is in the EU and Mairead McGuinness is commissioner for in the EU. Sounds to me like both are on the right side of the fence. Your comment literally makes no sense whatsoever.
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  66.  @whizzo94  Ireland? On the contrary, Brexit is the problem - but for the UK. Brexit is a clusterfuck. For Ireland it is an inconvenience and perhaps for the EU, a boring drama of British incompetence. Brussels dropped a clanger ten days ago, and quickly reversed their error - somebody was clearly asleep at the wheel - and now the UK is pathetically trying to use of it to get out of the mire they put themselves in. For English nationalists, this is power politics. But we know from Brexit just how weakened leaving the EU has been for the UK; Ireland inside the EU is actually more powerful in Brussels (and in Washington, but for different reasons) than the UK is outside the EU, because Ireland has the support of the other members. Brexit means Brexit. Get on with it.
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  67. There is going to be a hard Brexit because the UK took Ireland for granted. It simply assumed that Ireland would leave the EU because it had no choice, and as one Brexiter told me, 'you joined when we did, you will leave with us'. Everybody in Ireland knows that. Little Englanders underestimated how much the Irish value their sovereignty. There was no way the Irish would mimic the craziest contortions of their former rulers by throwing themselves on the pyre of Brexit. Ireland is commemorating its War of Independence from the UK at the present time. Irishmen and women fought to get out of the UK because they were being ruled by people who expected Irish people to sacrifice themselves for the ambitions of Englishmen. We're not going to volunteer to do that again.
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  68. You not able to work from home in the UK?
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  69. @ Johnny English Ireland already exports more to the EU than it does to the UK - this was not the case prior to joining in 1973 when between 80-90% of exports, with little added value, was exported to the UK. The UK has no trade agreements with the 'rest of the world', a 'rest of the world' which seems to place a higher priority on trade deals with the EU. Ireland's population will top out over 5 million in any case due to its higher than average birth rate and lower than average death rate. Immigration from the EU will also be a contributor. Few will come from elsewhere.
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  70. It only feels that way because deep down you know that Brexit is bullshit.
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  71. Agreed. It is truly odd.
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  72. The EU will never be an irrelevance to the UK, your media will constantly measure itself against it because of a deep rooted anxiety about the UKs place in the world.
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  73. How do you 'rape democracy'? Your MPs are living proof of the sovereignty of the UK Parliament. I thought that would be considered a good thing, even if they make decisions we don't like. Will Brexit Britain be rounding up all opponents of Brexit for 're-education' once you are out?
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  74. Oh please. Rupert Murdoch's papers have been peddling nonsense about the EU for decades, preparing your for your democratic exploitation. Facts are checkable, but voters are lazy. The cure for ignorance is knowledge.
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  75. Yes.
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  76. The logic...
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  77. The British will still be welcome in Ireland even after Brexit.
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  78. Too ambitious. There will be no united Ireland unless 80% of the population want it - it will take many decades.
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  79. Sure, but the point I'm trying to make that indications/polls will have to suggest a NI vote of well over 50% in favour of it for southerners to to for it - 80% is the figure I heard. There will also have to be serious negotiations beforehand of course - this will be a negotiated new Ireland after all - and that will see Constitutional changes, and I assume a new flag and anthem. I'm certain most southerners have ever considered that: I'd be open to a new anthem, but not a new flag, for example. Other people will feel different.
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  80. Peter, most Irish people do not suffer from your self-loathing. Get professional help if you can, you will feel better.
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  81.  @jonnydougs  It may be a game to you....
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  82.  @jonnydougs  Well, given the pantomime clowns at the helm in your country, I have to admire your optimism. However, Brexit now smacks of desperation, from a British perspective is has all come down to 'character' now. And breaking international law, or so it seems. If Britain was to return to the Stone Age because of Brexit its supporters would hail the making of stone tools as a victorious return to traditional British manufacturing...
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  83. The banks will not move back to London as they need base in the EU. Agriculture employs 5% of the Irish workforce of 2.4 million. It is not the backbone of the Irish economy. The MERCOSUR deal is considerably less harmful to the Irish economy than Brexit is.
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  84. Again, I think you might have sent this to the wrong person.
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  85.  @James-nw1oj  Famous last words... On what do you base that nugget of insight? Positive thinking?
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  86. Ah look. Its a Brit.
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  87. I think what B-Low is referring to is the massive democratic deficit that exists in the UK, especially at a time of diminishing British Demos over the last few years. 1) The first past the post system is archaic and undemocratic in a multiparty state 2) Your head of state is unelected 3) Your House of Lords is unelected. It has seats for Bishops 4) You have no written constitution. Nobody has ever had the opportunity vote for one. 5) England has no devolved assembly - why not? Your claim that you were voting as a 'united Kingdom' is misleading, as while you you all voted together in one referendum, your kingdom is deeply divided. Therefore in the case of Brexit there is a huge democratic deficit too: there is no constitutional account for the fact that Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. We know there is a direct correlation between the the English constituencies that voted to leave in 2016, and the areas that identified as English first and British second, or English only in the 2011 census. Furthermore, of the 17.4 million who voted leave, 15.1 million of them were from England - the English voted to leave, and the Scots and Northern Irish must leave also. Meanwhile, Brexiters want to leave the EU because it is undemocratic.
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  88. It does, it operates as one region, I know that. That's my point. The UK does not identify as one region anymore, the UK is constitutionally unfit for purpose. We've known which way the wind was blowing since devolution was introduced in the late 90s. You may not wish to confuse the two, but the English want to leave and the Scots and Northern Irish want to stay. For that there will be a constitutional reckoning.
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  89. Yes, substitute EU for UK please. Surprised I had to spoon feed you that, but such are the times we live in. Do you need me to retype that sentence?
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  90. Yeah, but the won't have a fantastic economy...
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  91. 'Ireland’s days as a tax dodging location are finally coming to an end. Brussels is right to intervene in Ireland’s tax matters and the extra jobs coming to the UK will be well received.' So, you guys are leaving the EU because the you perceive the EU as 'oppressive' and resent it 'telling you what to do'. But you advocate they do just that with Ireland. I am so glad Ireland left your bitter little union a century ago.
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  92. When it comes to Brexit, Ireland has 26 other countries behind it. The UK is divided and on its Jack Jones.
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  93. The UK has contributed very little to the world. All it has done is leave a legacy of its greed, everything it did for hundreds of years of self-serving its upper-classes. I think the jealousy and loathing is on the eastern side of the Irish Sea...
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  94.  Kelly McShane  I'm centre-left. You also seem to be on the left, given your ability to adopt a multi-layered identity.
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  95. British exceptionalism will help. You can always trust the UK to overplay its hand, just like it did with the vaccine.
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  96. How?
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  97. The UK was always in this position. The EU, quite literally, has only to do nothing except set out its conditions and watch the UK capitulate. Just wait for the trade negotiations...you will be left with a deal that is worse than you have already, but better than what the WTO offers, though you will have no influence on anything the EU does. Brexit is idiotic.
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  98. Its doomed to fail because it based on an invented oppression and bolstered by a misinformation about a better future for the UK outside of the EU.
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  99. What. You mean, like the UK?
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  100. The war ended in 1945, Philip. Do keep up, there's a good lad.
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  101. Not a chance.
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  102. @ Pop I enjoyed your posts. Very informative.
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  103. Sure it is.
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  104. Pity you can't say why.
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  105. Yours is an interesting conclusion for anyone who actually listened to what he said.
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  106. The EU didn't 'dump' immigrants into Sweden. The Swedes opened up their borders, along with the Germans. Ireland didn't, and won't. Why are Brexiters so ignorant of basic facts?
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  107. Bollox. Ireland is obliged to pay into the EU pot just like every country. In recent years Ireland has been a net contributor to that that pot.
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  108. As opposed to you?
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  109. As you know, what he is really saying is that for democracy to have any meaning, the electorate or the voters must be informed. That is why we need a free press in any healthy democracy. Voters in the UKs referenda were misinformed, through no fault of their own.
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  110. Jesus Christ, if that is the level of aspiration for democracy in the UK, it explains the current malaise in Westminster. They say we elected the politicians we deserve. Ireland had a referendum on abortion....five of them in 35 years in fact...people are allowed change their minds in Ireland. It is considered an important part of Irish democracy. In the end the right to life of the unborn was removed from the Irish constitution. The government was successful in having it removed from the constitution as it published the legislation that would replace it, so people could INFORM themselves and decide if they were in favour of it or not. 'The idea that we now know something that we didn't then, is a myth.' No, its a fact. The Leavers never published a plan and bullshitted their way through what passes for 'pre-referendum debate' in your country. Today we are told 'everybody voted for no deal'. This is fucking lie, as 'no deal' was not on offer and it was considered 'madness' to leave the single market. Fortunately the evidence exists to prove it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xGt3QmRSZY In a democracy everyone has a right to correct information allowing the even the stupid to come to a conclusion. But if you have a system whereby facts and truth are optional, all that matters is the manipulation of the ill-informed, say through a print media run by an oligarch, then you ain't living in a democracy pal. You live in a country with little experience of referenda. It shows.
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  111. I think you should leave without a deal. If will be fun to watch what happens.
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  112. Your post is an excellent example of a Brexiter who still thinks there is a Brexit out there that will work for them, if only those who voted remain didn't fuck it up. The EU needs no 'encouragement' to give the UK a bad deal. The EU is bound by its rules and there is no deal available that is better than membership - why would there be? Even if there was, why would they give it you when you when the UK cannot actually decide what it wants exactly? Wales voted to leave, but they number only 3 million, have a less well developed nationalism (when compared with the Scots for example) and much more strongly influenced by the English print media than those north of Hadrian's wall. Interestingly 87% of Welsh speakers voted to remain. It would seem the stronger your Welsh identity, the more pro-EU the Welsh people are. It was the same with Gaelic speakers in Scotland. A small majority of Welsh people voted for Brexit. I wonder how many would vote for it now...
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  113. Posen has a PhD in Political Economy and Government from Harvard. It only sounds like psychobabble to you because you have no idea what he is talking about. You have quotations from South Park. I rest my case.
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  114. Well, you don't seem to need any empirical evidence - all you have presented so far is an opinion. Why don't you take your own advice? It is you that is doing me a disservice with the quality of your answer. I'd stick with the head with the PhD.
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  115. 'The point is Posen is making predictions about the future therefore there is no empirical evidence.' There is evidence, but it is continually dismissed as Project Fear and remoaning. Brexit, on the other hand, is based on promises for which there was no empirical evidence - or were downright lies - and in some cases have already been proven to be so.
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  116. Probably because it was already agreed with the EU?
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  117. Its a good idea. A second vote - this time on the final deal, is wise. Last time voters didn't know what Brexit would actually look like.
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  118. We did - in an International Peace Treaty which is lodged with the UN. Brexit undermines it. That's the problem Brexit presents to Ireland!!
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  119. 'Listen to the mouse roar. Ireland could’ve worked with the UK and use its veto vote to demand no border on NI but of course they have to look out for their German master’s interests.' The ignorance of how the EU and international trade works is perfectly encapsulated in this post, as is the arrogance of behind Brexit. Ignorance and arrogance. An unfortunate combination.
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  120. I think you might have sent this to the wrong person.
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  121. Politics has failed Britain.
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  122. Well its not working at the moment!
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  123. So why did the UK not implement its own immigration controls, like the Irish do?
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  124. It is prepared to defend its interest, though militarism is not its first consideration.
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  125. How was the vote democratic when it was based on lies and misinformation?
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  126. Two Irish people talking about Brexit.
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  127. @ bo ptah Northern could stay in the UK, AND remain in the customs union. British military bases in Cyprus will remain within the customs union and single market and the British government does not consider that as returning the bases back to Cyprus... The referendum may well have been open to the UK and not individual 'provinces', but given that there is no longer any real demos in the UK since devolution, this argument is likely to wear thin post-Brexit.
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  128. '..but allowing Ireland to have pissed up the wall all the money they received from Brussels in hand outs, just shows what sort of people we are dealing with.' Discuss.
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  129. The UK is determined to abandon its equal status with the EU in order to obtain its vassalage with the Americans.
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  130. The Backstop.
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  131. 'I have zero sympathy for Southern Ireland' You have zero sympathy for Northern Ireland too.
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  132. O'Toole is holding a mirror up to people like you and showing the world the image. He's winning awards for his work. You can't even coherently articulate how you disagree with him.
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  133. No you don't. O'Toole is a bleeding heart liberal, hardly a bigot, though I can see how there could be bigots in your family. The use of Marxism in this context only identifies you has a member of the hard right, for whom such labels are a simplistic identifier and a substitute for coherent argument.
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  134. Irish corporation tax is none of your business, and is the sovereign competence of every state.
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  135. Equal powers? The English don't see themselves as equal to anyone.
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  136. No its not. Its the UK looking for special treatment - as usual. The question is one of competence and understanding what is possible and the UKs limitation in this department has been exposed by this ever since David Davis showed up in Berlin looking for a deal from Merkel (who promptly sent him to Brussels). The UK is a crap negotiator. The EU is more secure that the UK. Support for a second Scottish IndyRef is consistent and increasing (58%) in the last poll as a consequence of Brexit, suggesting that the clock is ticking on the future existence of the 'precious union'. Meanwhile, just this week the EU Commission issued 17 billion euros of new social-linked bonds at 10- and 20-year maturities. Demand was incredible, topping 233 billion euros. That’s a record for any European bond, despite the negative yield on offer for the 10-year debt and the barely positive yield on the 20-year. More importantly is shows confidence in the future of the EU, which is a AAA rated entity. If you're looking for a political union that will fall apart in the coming years, look closer to home.
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  137.  @kevinhemmings5447  And the UK said that the EU's idea of Canada style trade deal is not the Brexiteers' idea of a Canada style deal...
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  138.  Enoch's Ghost  Wow! Triggered! And where are those 'small chunks' at? LMAO! After a bullshit response like that I can tell you are fucking terrified of Scottish independence. The UK has been breaking up since devolution. Brexit is just the mext step in the process...
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  139.  Enoch's Ghost  But it does not require a 'coherent rebuttal'. It is wishful thinking or denial, but it certainly does not rise to 'coherent rebuttal' of my statement. 'Small chunks', indeed.
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  140. Informed consent is not a condition on your right to vote, but an essential ingredient of democracy. Why do you think a democracy requires a free press? In Russia you have a right to a vote, but no right to you informed consent. Would you consider Russia a democracy like the UK?
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  141. I was the one talking about Russia. I was comparing the UK with Russia. I'm not sure you're keeping up here. You've mentioned the Rothschilds. Where are you on George Soros?
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  142. It is a requirement of democracy that you have to have an informed choice, otherwise it is not democratic. If your politicians manipulate you through lies - not to be confused with miscalculations, but barefaced lies - then you do not have an informed choice. If you do not have an informed choice, what is the point in voting other than enabling those in power to abuse you? You can have opposing information of course, and you then exercise your democratic choice. No need to answer - it is a rhetorical question and I know where you stand. It have to say, this has been a fascinating discussion and insight.
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  143. Oh please, claiming you voted remain is stretching it too far. You display none of the characteristics of a remainer, but all of the identifying features of a leaver. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
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  144. I agree, the UK is in chaos: thick leavers, impotent remainers, a limited free press, a divided parliament still negotiating with itself, useless leaders, a hopeless opposition and an incoherent English nationalism that is not comfortable with its place in the world. As a result the UK is a laughing stock. 'Unlike you I accepted the decision and moved on, only to watch a disgusting and disgraceful attempt to make a mockery of people’s only way of changing the status quo.' The above statement betrays you as a Brexiter. For a those who voted leave, Brexit is more important than democracy and informed choice. If believing that democracy requires informed choice makes me arrogant, I can live with that. The UK is not my country - so in many ways your misinformed referendum is immaterial to me. However, from outside the Brexit Bubble, I can tell you that what is happening in your country is viewed as the greatest exercise in national self harm since the Easter Islanders cut down their last tree. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the UK. If you are looking for an elite to blame you need to look closer to home, to your pantomime toffs in parliament and the oligarchs that own certain newspapers. I don't belong to that crowd.
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  145. I know.
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  146. I'm sorry but it is you that is full of shit. You are peddling the usual ignorance of people who were fed shite in their print media about the EU/EEC since the 1980s.
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  147. Everyone having a dig at the UK is indicative of the pantomime farce that is Brexit.
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  148. The British propensity to overestimate themselves is not only a significant element of your national story, but is lauded as part of your culture of 'heroic failure'. Brexit will be the latest chapter.
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  149. I fink I get paid on a fursday.
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  150. You were told that at the start. It was considered to be scaremongering.
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  151. Women find me irresistible, I'll have you know.
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  152. What is your solution, John?
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  153. Why not? You have previously listened to a chartered accountant (Peter Bone), journalists (Bo Jo and Gove) and a hedge fund manager (Mogg) on the subject. Why not a Drama Critic and an award-winning journalist?
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  154. Susan Field, Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom, and therefore did not vote in your referendum. Why do you not know this?
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  155. Susan Field There is no such country as Southern Ireland. Why do you not know this! There is Ireland and there is Northern Ireland. Ireland did not vote in your referendum, Northern Ireland did.
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  156. Susan Field Yeah. Northern Ireland. Thank you.
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  157. Susan Field Yes, and that sovereign state is called Ireland.
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  158. Its a feeling he has nathan. Brexiters judge everything by their feelings and believing in things hard enough.
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  159. Good, you benefitting from the fluid and pluralistic concept of Irish nationalism enshrined in our written constitution: you can be Irish by birth or by heritage and still be part of the the Irish Nation.
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  160. The EU facilitates the concept of a multi-layered identity; you can Irish, British, German, Italian...with a shared EU citizenship and Identity.
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  161. On the contrary, the UK is being fundamentally dishonest. The argument of the hard Brexiters and the DUP that the UK does not want a border, so any responsibility for one lies with the EU is mendacious, and is regarded in Ireland as a transparent ploy to dodge blame. There will have to be a hard border somewhere because the UK is leaving the Customs Union, the fundamentals of international trade determine that. The DUP, who do not represent popular opinion in NI, will not tolerate a hard border in the Irish Sea. It is therefore impossible to maintain the status quo on the border. All of this is caused by Brexit. Brexit is British policy. Own it.
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  162.  @richardmoloney689  Wtf is 'Southern Eire'? And you with an Irish name, ffs.
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  163. He can't.
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  164. And all the promises that were made, about the EU needing the UK more than the UK needs the EU, the German car manufacturers coming to the the Uks rescue...you think your consent was informed??
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  165. Nope. He is a vocal critic of the EU in Ireland. Its just that Brexit is so demonstrably stupid being based on fiction and insecurity that he sounds like a Europhile. Its like Irish politicians: their British counterparts are so low grade and ignorant they make the Varadkar and Coveney look like International Statesmen. That is some achievement.
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  166. Yeah, but who wants to 'survive'? Before you joined the EEC, the UK was the economically the 'sick man of europe' and three years after you joined the IMF were called in to bail-out the UK. That's not fiction either. You were promised sunny uplands with Brexit, but now Mogg and Gove are talking about 'surviving' it, and that going to WTO is 'not the end of the world'. Brexit is product of, among other things, a sense of inequality in the UK. Brexit will not solve that - your poor will get poorer and your younger generation will blame you for it. The rich who proposed and promoted Brexit will be enriched, and will trouser the profits.
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  167. Listen Alan, we can deal with opinions if you wish, but I find it far more useful to deal in facts. It is a fact that in 1973 the UK joined the EEC with the label 'the sick man of Europe' The UK is the second highest contributor to the EU NOW - but was it always that way? For those of your barely surviving now, God help you after Brexit. Your vote, I should remind you, was advisory and not binding. Brexiter seem to forget this when they speak of Betrayal. In your mind you have have used the 'sovereignty' as your rallying call, but we all know that this is unlikely to have ever taken off had there being more equality in the UK. Many people voted against EU membership simply because the Westminster establishment was in favour of it. These days we are even told that Brexiters actually voted for NO DeAL when this promise was not even on offer before hand. I don't have any 'crystal balls', but I do have evidence and while some of it may prove to be wrong, most of it will not. You are screwed.
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  168. Soros is a bogey man of the right. Bob Geldof is an Irishman with Irish values who lives in the UK. He is not an elected member of Parliament and you have nothing to lose listening to him. No so with Mogg, Johnson et al.
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  169. How democratic of you. How long have you opposed free speech?
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  170. O'Toole is despised by Sinn Féin supporters because he calls them out on their narrow nationalism - he is no Irish 'bitter Irish nationalist' with a 'chip on his shoulder against the British'. There is no evidence that the British desire to leave the EU has only strengthened. If there was, Brexiters would welcome a second referendum with the confidence that they would strengthen their mandate. Indeed, there was no 'British desire to leave the EU' as both the Scots and the Northern Irish voted to remain. This is an English decision. There is no constitutional account for the fact that the Scots and Northern Irish voted to remain and for this there will be constitutional consequences down the line.
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  171. The Lisbon treat was before Brexit. Ireland is not more powerful than the UK, the UK has made itself weaker through Brexit.
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  172. I know...are they bluffing themselves or are they just that stupid?
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  173. Why are they afraid of telling the truth?
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  174. In Ireland we have really good English Language Schools. You should apply - you will be literate in no time.
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  175. It is the beginning of the end of the United Kingdom, not Britain - that will always be there.
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  176. He's Irish, he is not a traitor to Ireland.
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  177. If that is true, then your problem is in London not Brussels.
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  178. Bollox. The Irish can do it without transgressing any EU rules, why can the UK not?
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  179. Deport people who are abusing the welfare system. East Europeans who were living in Ireland and claiming for children in their home countries have been deported.
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  180. Australia style means No Deal. And it means No Trade Deal with the US.
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  181. Not necessarily. In an election parties publish their manifesto, and then chose to ignore it or discover their assumptions are wrong when they get elected. The Leave campaign published nothing, other than vague aspirations. It was difficult to pin Leave down on their magical thinking. Compare that to the Scottish Indy Ref where the SNP published a tome detailing what independence would look like, allowing people to decide if they agreed with it or not. In the Irish marriage equality referendum, the government were informed by a Citizens assembly as to what they wanted and the government published their legislation before the referendum - people knew what they were voting for. This is the type of informed decision of which O'Toole speaks.
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  182. Have you see him there?
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  183. @ Brex6645 Why does the referendum have to account for it? 1) The vote was advisory, your parliament is sovereign, your people are not. 2) The vote was not informed, a cornerstone of democracy: you were lied to - but Brexiters don't mind. It is quite simple, really.
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  184. What? Twice?
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  185. @ Ricardo Thomas '...it will never happen in this life or The next, the unionist are the majority in that part of the world, and they are British...' The nationalist population is set to become the majority, possibly by the time of the 2021 census. Middle class liberal unionists are open to the idea of a future withing a united Ireland, as they are facing economic ruin with Brexit and political insecurity due to an English nationalism that would throw them under a bus at the first opportunity. 'In fact the referendum was a UK vote, not a Scottish or Irish English or welch vote...' This is true, but of course against a backdrop of a diminishing British Demos, it is also the case that Brexit does not account for the the fact that Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. In the last 20 years since the GFA and devolution, we can see what way the wind is blowing...the UK is slowly breaking up. Brexit will speed it up, as the current constitutional arrangement is no longer fit for purpose. '...how can you ignore the 17.4 million...' The vast majority of your 17.4 million are English. If you are Scottish or Irish, the English are irrelevant in terms of your own aspirations. For them, if the English want to leave the EU, then they should - but why should the Scots or the Irish leave also? Their nationalism share none of the English insecurities.
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  186. Really? You think having no plan, poor leadership and a misplaced sense of exceptionalism is not the cause of the debacle for the UK?
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  187. I'm still stuck on the American reference...
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  188. Umm...did he even mention Doctors?
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  189. Thanks. I'm no wiser as to what Michael Olson is on about though.
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  190. Why do you think his explanation is arbitrary? Why do you think people understood the entire situation when it is clear that not even those who promoted Brexit are clueless about the EU, the Good Friday Agreement and fundamentals of International Trade? O'Toole is and Irish and lives in Ireland. He must be a guest Prof at Princeton or something.
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  191. 'Well arbitrary is just negotiation format but he certainly seems to be explaining how we are not going to get Brexit any time soon if at all according to how things are at the moment...' Correct. He is unburdened by an notions of the UKs exceptionalism and has drilled down through the BS ('sovereignty'. 'taking back control', 'immigration' ' they need us more than we need them') and identifies Brexit as a distinctly English crisis of identity. '...but I am concerned that the entire situation will be so that we can expect that Brexit will not take place due to no commitment to it by our MP's' An accidental Brexit is on the cards, but in reality Brexit died at birth once it came into contact with reality in June 2016. If you leave with no deal you will be in an even weaker position when you come back to negotiate a deal with the EU, and in any negotiations you have with the rest of the world. Brexit is simply incompatible with the GFA. Everybody in Ireland was aware of this in May 2016, but nobody could say anything for fear of charges of interference in the internal politics of the UK. Leaving without a deal will need for it to happen before you will be able to see it. Your MPs are useless, deeply ignorant of the world, Ireland and the EU. Their posh accents seem to have seduced the many of their acolytes who seem assume these wasters deserve their adoration. The English love their elites, but not foreign ones it appears.
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  192. Thank you. I agree, Brexit is mistake and nobody will get anything good from it.
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  193.  @oldseadog3386  How is Ireland being fucked after Brexit working out?
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  194.  @oldseadog3386  Its not a bail out, France, Denmark and the Netherlands also received funding to help redirect trade away from the UK. In Ireland's case it will help the redevelopment of Rosslare Harbour with its increased ferry routes to France.
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  195. He keeps winning international awards for his journalism. Maybe you just don't like him because he holding up a mirror to your country?
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  196. He's highly critical of the Irish establishment - Ship of Fools is a fine example, but he is also a liberal on social issues, nationalism etc, which is in keeping with most people in Ireland. He holds a mirror up to right-wingers and traditional blood sacrifice republicans and they hate him for it. All of the awards he has won were awarded outside of Ireland - certainly the ones I'm aware of.
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  197. 'UK sees Ireland as making a huge mistake staying in the EU'. Of course it does. It just assumed Ireland would just leave with the UK.
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  198. sigh The Irish border issue is about goods, not about people...
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  199.  @drumrk9090902  I agree.
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  200. Speak for yourself. I'm Irish and while I don't always agree with his views, I think he has hit the nail on the head here.
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  201. I know. They spout the most stupid emotional garbage, but when you confront them with obvious facts and reasoned argument, they either double down or fold. I am bewildered by what is going on in the UK. Is it possible for whole sections of a nation to have a collective nervous breakdown?
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  202. You can leave, but you cannot shit all over the other guests in order to do so.
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  203. You must settle your bill before you leave.
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  204. And don't shit all over your neighbours.
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  205. With the weak sterling, you couldn't afford to tour Ireland again.
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  206. Why not, did you think the people were sovereign?
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  207. Because he means clarity. The way the UK has handled Brexit has been farce. The Tory party is in the midst of a civil war, PM May has no control, contradicting each other, insulting the people they are supposed to be trying to get a deal from and lacking in any workable proposals. If they spent less time trying to bully the EU they might have a plan by now... Enjoy your 'no deal', but remember nobody has yet articulated what that means to ordinary Brits like yourself. Who will the UK scapegoat for their incompetence then?
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  208. The last time the Americans 'stuck their noses in' we got the Good Friday Agreement - do keep up.
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  209. @ Streets of Dublin Excellent analysis.
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  210. If it is war, it is your Dunkirk not your D-day. You arrived at the beach will no plan - now you are in full retreat.
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  211. Then why did you vote in favour when those promoting Brexit told you it would be easy? That the EU would cave in because the UK was so important? They lied, and you voted for them. Now you lie to yourself.
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  212. There is rapidly diminishing British Demos, this is an English 'rebellion'; the Scots and the Northern Irish voted to remain. The welsh are much more heavily influenced by the English and voted to leave against their own best interests. Whatever it is, it is not truly British as you claim.
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  213. They all said it would be easy!! What fucking planet are you living on!
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  214. 'The British people have spoken via a lawful referendum and they clearly want No Deal Brexit' The only problem with this opening line is all of it. There is not 'British people', no coherent British Demos anymore; 64% of Scots voted to Leave and most of them consider themselves Scottish first and British Second. Brexit is happening because the English are insecure with their identity. The referendum would have been considered lawful if it was been a binding referendum, because of how the leave vote was funded. One thing is clear. Nobody voted for NO DEAL because it was not on offer.
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  215. Mairead McGuinness was never in the IRA. What planet are you on?
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  216. Who?
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  217. I thought it was obvious he meant stronger in terms of Brexit.
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  218. If it is the vote of the English people that counts, why do the Scots have to Leave too?
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  219. Scotland is indeed still part of the United Kingdom, and thank you for actually checking. So, now that you are claiming Brexit for 'the English', why should the Scots leave the EU? Should the English not grow a pair and leave the Union? Are we pretending there is still a British Demos?
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  220. I'm not Scottish.
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  221. How long? How long before the English grow a pair and become a nation of their own?
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  222. He is a drama critic and a journalist. For comparison, Bo Jo and Gove are both journalists while Mogg is a hedge fund manager, Owen Patterson is a salesman for a tannery, while Peter Bone is a qualified accountant. Where is the evidence that TM was given orders by anyone?
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  223. UK lawmakers??? Hang on, I thought the EU made all of the UKs laws? Go UK lawmakers!!
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  224. South Dublin.
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  225. @Scruffy Sandra Oh the irony. If the British had kept out of Irish affairs over the centuries, you would have been free and clear of the EU long ago. Ireland is part of the EU and it is with the EU you are pretending to negotiate your future; it is the same EU that will continue to influence the UK in the years to come as you grapple with your place in the world. Therefore, it is Ireland's interests to pay attention to British affairs because Brexit pokes its nose into ours. Enjoy Brexit, and just remember, it is what you voted for.
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  226. @Scruffy Sandra Yes, I know what year it is. So what?
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  227. They didn't vote for what the government was saying, they voted for what the leavers were saying... a pack of lies!
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